The present invention relates generally to a computer-based display resolution configuration, and, more particularly, to methods and systems for optimizing electronic display resolutions.
Media streaming makes up a large part of Internet traffic. Media on the Internet is usually available in a variety of pixel (p) qualities (480p, 720p, 1080p, etc.). User's may invest in high resolution media devices, such as 1080p or 4K (4000p) televisions, in the hopes that they can have a better digital experience. Higher display resolutions may require a large amount of data to represent the number of pixels of an image. Transferring the large amount of data may utilize a significant portion of the available bandwidth from a server to the electronic device. Moreover, other network traffic may impede the transfer of data to the electronic device. When a user has a high resolution device, their media software will opt for using the highest resolution possible. Likewise, when adjusting manual settings, users tend to opt for the highest streaming quality. However, research has shown that viewing media streams at higher resolutions can become unnecessary depending on the distance a user is from the display. That is, the difference in quality discernible by the human eye may stop short of the highest possible resolution of a device. The viewing distance of a user plays a major role in the quality difference discernible by the human eye.
Certain industry trends are likely to lead to a situation where users must pay for their data consumption, rather than paying for bandwidth, like a utility. Should this happen, a user's use of unnecessarily high resolution settings will lead to wasteful and expensive consumption of unnecessary data. Further, a processor of an image rendering electronic device may experience slow-downs and higher power consumption as a result of processing large amounts of data associated with the streaming of unnecessarily high resolution data.